30 entries from April 2012

These succulent, chewy ribs are totally different from our tender, falling off the bone, five hour ribs. We start by seasoning the ribs with a savory spice blend, no salt added, and then vacuum sealing them. Then we cook the ribs in a CVap set at 57°C for 24 hours. We chill them down until we're ready to eat and then we cut them into individual ribs. Finally we put them in a toaster oven and run it through two toasting cycles. The first cycle warms the ribs up. Then we slather them with honey and the second cycle glazes and caramelizes them. I know it seems strange but we use this oven to cook almost everything. Once finished, we brush any excess honey over the ribs a final time. Then we season the meat with smoked Maldon salt. We ate them with cucumber kimchi. The spicy vegetables and honey were a surprisingly harmonious combination, each making the other one even tastier. Nothing left but bones and the desire to do it again tomorrow.

We used the machine, Die #6 and our basic semolina pasta recipe to make these delicate noodles. Once they were made we cooked them and dressed them with yuzu kosho butter. Then we topped the twirls of noodles with mitsuba from our garden and Herdsman cheese. What is exciting about these noodles is that they are extremely delicate and still resilient. We now have a lighter form to carry flavors where we want a noodle without a heaviness. Next up is tweaking the dough to see how much flavor we can get into these fine threads.

This is as simple as dehydrating your favorite hot dog and then shaving the dried meat sticks into delicate shavings. We use a traditional bonito shaver to give us the delicate pieces we are looking for. The hot dog katsuobushi may appear to be a far cry from the original bonito shavings. In actuality it contains most of the elements of the original, including the final form, and it can be used in the same ways. We've had a few Japanese style hot dogs over the last couple of years, mostly covered with a blizzard of bonito shavings. Some were transcendent and some were simply fishy. We wanted to take the idea just that small step beyond. This is the final element needed to put our Japanese hot dog over the top.

This salad is an evolution of the classic fava bean and pecorino salad. We start by charring snap peas in a cast iron skillet which we season lightly with salt. Once the peas begin to sweat on top, we remove them from the pand and put them into a bowl. We dress the hot peas with a whey vinaigrette and then fold in watercress leaves and stems. The finished salad is topped with shaved aged cheddar cheese.

The leeks below are grilled and then dressed in a walnut vinaigrette while they are still warm. We let them cool them down and press them flat in a vacuum or zip top bag. Then we roll them out to a uniform thickness, freeze them, and portion into rectangles. Now we have a great base for a number of recipes: paired with walnuts and blue cheese, sauteed wild mushrooms, slow cooked salmon with preserved lemons and olives, seared soft shell crabs, fried clam ravigote, steak tartare, the possibilities are endless.

We use Chimay in this ice cream but any delicious beer can be used to customize this ice cream to your preference, the season and the beer.

Chimay Ice Cream

1050 grams/ 4 2/3 cup Chimay beer

275 grams/ 1 1/4 cups + 2 teaspoons brown sugar

5 large egg yolks (90 grams)

18 grams/ 3 tablespoons tapioca flour

50 grams/ 11 tablespoons Ovaltine

4.5 grams/ ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

520 grams/ 2 cups milk

480 grams/ 2 cups heavy cream

Put the beer and the brown sugar into a medium sized pot on medium heat and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to medium low and reduce the beer and sugar 2/3. Remove the syrup from the heat and and let it cool to room temperature. Put the egg yolks, tapioca flour, Ovaltine, salt, and reduced beer syrup into a blender and puree the mixture until it forms a thick paste. Put the milk and heavy cream into a medium pot and bring to a simmer. Remove the dairy from the heat, turn the blender on low and slowly drizzled the hot mixture into the blender. Increase the blender to medium and blend for 1 minute. Turn the blender off and strain the ice cream base through a fine meshed strainer. Put the ice cream base into a bowl set over an ice bath to cool the base. Refrigerate the mixture for 4 hours then freeze in an ice cream maker.

Wanting to continue with our gluten free developments we put our sourdough donuts to the test. We combined our sorghum starter* and used our What IiF flour in our sourdough donut recipe from the book.The results were tangy, rich and delicious. We coated the donuts with cardamom sugar and the lactic tang of the sourdough did the rest. These are a wonderful addition to our repertoire and hopefully you will give them a go soon too.

*We have now modified our sorghum starter to a blend of sorghum and flax seed meal in equal parts by weight. The flax seed adds some elasticity to the starter and gives it more body, a great improvement.

Sixteen years ago when I first started cooking I had no idea what a ramp was. When I cooked with Ken at Clio, ramps were not common place. And that is what made them unique. We made an incredible ramp Vichysoisse which was bright green and velvety smooth. Later, cooking with Marco on the vineyard brought more ramps into the kitchen, big time, mostly pickled. I remember spending hours cleaning ramps by myself in the newly opened Craft kitchen, pickling them for the summer to come. In Mainewe were fortunate enough to have them delivered to our back door. We needed to figure out how to use the bounty. While we pickled plenty of bottoms, this was when we began to treasure using the tops. We made ramp top cavatelli and ramp green sausage. We smoked them too. In Colorado we made ramp green kimchi and even ramp kimchi cracklings.

Coming back East we still love our ramps, with its unique allium flavor and the variety of textures you get from a single plant. When we moved down to Pennsylvania I had the pleasure of going ramp picking with Scott, Joe and Mike Mike from Elements. When spring arrives we enjoy the memories we have of ramps past and look forward to making new ones. It amazes me that ramps are starting to get a bad rap, they are scoffed at and disparaged. At first I was upset. Then I looked at the big picture and realized that all these naysayers are doing is making sure that there are more for me and my like-minded mentors and fellow cooks.

Okay, not really. Day of chaos but in an entirely good way. We are busy, Alex left for Spain, I'm dog-sitting for the weekend so of course one cat had surgery Friday and came home this morning. And so on and so forth. So just this once I'm going to direct you to a post from the archives. This recipe for Triple Chocolate Pistachio Cookies is what I wish I had cooling on the counter tonight. Rich, decadent, utterly satisfying and easy to make. Maybe tomorrow.

As we make associations we are able to compare, contrast and substitute. Mitsuba is known as and to taste like Japanese parsley and Japanese chervil. These references give us a familiar starting point to work with. Unfortunately having a starting point, a preconcieved notion of how something is supposed to be prevents us from seeing and tasting for the first time. Our taste memory is already guided by what we know rather than being able to freely connect the dots. Sometimes we need to be blind to see.

I like grenadine. I don't know that before today I've ever had it freshly made. As a longtime (although not in recent years) consumer of Shirley Temples who does not love maraschino cherries, I can tell you that I have had a long relationship with grenadine. In fact there was a little French Brasserie (La Crepe) in Forest Hills when I was growing up and we would go there for lunch on Saturdays before going to the movies. I was very comfortable there and on the odd occasions when we would go there for dinner I would abandon our table, plant myself at the bar and drink Shirley Temples and chat with the bartender all night long.

These days I like my new fangled version of an old fashioned for my evening cocktail. It consists of 1 1/2 ounces of good bourbon (house pour is Knob Creek), a few dashes of Bokers bitters, 1 teaspoon of grenadine and 1 drop of Boyajian orange oil, served on the rocks in a short glass. I ran out of Stirrings grenadine the other day and decided to try the Fee Brothers version because their bitters are some of my favorites. Big mistake, and that's all I'm going to say about that. I was motivated to look for a grenadine recipe online and came up with two versions from the Cocktail Chronicles. I made the fresh version today with help shaking from Amaya. We kept it alcohol free so that she could enjoy the fruits of her labor too. It was economical and super delicious, especially mixed with seltzer and served on the rocks. Here's the recipe with our few small tweaks.

A few years ago we were working on simple ways to make large round ice cubes. The first comment on our approach mentioned creating ice shells and then filling them with alcohol. A great idea and one we had worked on a few years prior in a liquid nitrogen demonstration and had run into logistical issues. However, if you follow to the bottom of the post there is a link to a video by the Aviary team tackling the idea of cocktails in ice. They utilized the idea of freezing a shell and doing it rapidly with the use of an Irinox Blast Chiller. Since they had tackled the task we left the idea alone, until recently. I became enamored with making cocktail filled ice cubes again. Yet I wanted cubes. I thought beautiful ice cubes with the cocktail inside would be beautiful and fun to play with. So I fired up, or rather cooled down our EF10.1 and filled a silicone cube mold with water. Once it had frozen an outer shell, we poked holes into the top and drained out the water. Then we filled the cube with a mixture of bourbon, lemonade and grenadine. We returned the cubes to the blast freezer to solidify the inside. Then we capped our hole with a bit of water and froze them one last time. Then we removed the cubes from the mold and put them into a traditional freezer to allow the interior to melt. The end result is a beautiful cube of bourbon in the rocks.

The wavy shape of the mafaldine noodle makes them great for holding onto sauce. In our world we were able to make them 2 inches long thanks to the machine. These mini mafaldine worked out really well in our pepperoni lasagna. The shape and the short length made them look like shrunken lasagna noodles. When we layered them with the sauce and cheeses no one knew that we were not eating traditional (pepperoni) lasagna. Except everyone was able to cut through the layers of the lasagna with a fork and no struggle. So it turned out our ad lib for lasagna noodles produced an end result with greater benefits than we could have planned. What other pieces should we move around to see what happens?

We've been working on a brothy mushroom soup because we get tired of the same old (delicious) creamy button mushroom version. We foraged at our local markets and found 5 different "wild" mushrooms and pressure cooked them with a little smoky Ardmore scotch for flavor. The result was a a light, flavorful stew of mushrooms. We added some freshly extruded semolina fusilli to give it a little more substance --in the style of chicken noodle-- and because Amaya loves noodles. A few torn leaves of mitsuba from the weed patch added a green spicyness to the soup. Aged Vermont cheddar is always in our refrigerator and it seemed like the perfect finishing touch. Then, just because they seemed appropriate, Alex plucked a few apple blossoms from the tree to accompany our soup to the table.

This is a great slideshow of Thomas Keller through the years. Great because if you look at the photos of the early French Laundry it reminds us that he started the same way everyone else did. It was his belief in himself and what he could do that made him into the most respected chef in America. He is a culinary icon and he should be an inspiration to us all, a reminder that the road isn't always smooth or quick and that perseverance and finesse count for more than good PR.

We saw this on Brain Pickings today and are shamelesly reposting it here because it's that good. It's about creativty, a skill we are constantly trying to improve, and the video is definitely worth watching. If you've never checked it out, Brain Pickings should be one of your daily reads. Maria Popova always manages to find at least one and usually several new and inspiring things to write about every day.

A well-made canele is a thing of beauty. There’s nothing else quite like it. It has an almost chewy crust from the thin layer of beeswax that coats the molds and the inner crumb is moist and tender. The batter is similar to a crepe batter and the preparation hinges on a few key steps. One is a gentle mixing process that doesn’t aerate the batter. The second is letting it rest for at least 24 hours so that the flour is completely hydrated and the flavors have time to develop before baking. The third step is coating the molds with a very thin layer of beeswax and butter. If the layer is too thick it will stick to your teeth and leave a lingering aftertaste that undermines the delicate flavor of the cake. The trick is making sure that both the beeswax mixture and your molds are hot when you bring them together. Tongs are your friends in this endeavor. Cornflakes and Bourbon may seem like unorthodox flavorings for canele but the very best techniques lend themselves to adaptation. In the end the only that matters is that they taste delicious.

Lay the cornflakes out on a sheet pan and bake them for 5 minutes until they turn a deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a medium saucepot. Add the 500 grams milk and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and weigh out 500 grams of cornflake milk. Add a little bit of plain milk if there is not quite enough.

Put the cornflake milk, butter and honey in a medium saucepot set over medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Remove from heat. Meanwhile put the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl and whisk them together a few times to blend. Put the eggs and yolks in a small bowl. Beat them gently with a fork just until they come together in a homogenous mixture. Pour the eggs into the flour mixture and then pour the milk over the eggs, stirring with a rubber spatula to incorporate them. Stir gently until the mixture comes together in a smooth batter. Add the bourbon and the bitters and stir until just incorporated. Put the batter in the refrigerator uncovered until it is completely cool, then cover it and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 250°F/121°C

Line a baking pan with parchment paper, set a rack over the paper and put the canele molds on the rack. Put the pan in the oven. Put the beeswax and the butter in a medium saucepot set over low heat. The beeswax is extremely hard and rather than trying to chop it we put it in the pot as a chunk. Once the beeswax and butter have melted and come together, pull the pan with the molds out of the oven and set it on the range beside the pot of beeswax. Use tongs to pick up a mold and use a small ladle to spoon the beeswax mixture into the mold. Fill it top the top and then immediately turn it over and dump the wax back in the pan. Let as much run out as possible and then invert the mold over the rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining molds. Put the molds in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour before baking. Coated molds may be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. Leftover beeswax/butter can be chilled and kept in a covered container in the freezer until needed for the next batch.

Preheat the oven to 475°F/246°C

Take the canele batter out of the refrigerator. It will have separated, use a small rubber spatula to stir it a few times to bring it back into a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the prepared molds filling them ¾ of the way to the top. Place them on a sheet pan lined with a silicone sheet leaving about 2-inchs of space between each mold. Put them on the lower rack in the oven and turn the temperature down to 410°F/210°C. Bake for 40 minutes and then rotate the pan and bake for an additional 20 minutes. They should be a deep, dark golden brown. Use tongs to immediately invert and unmold each cake and then gently transfer them to a rack to cool. Caneles are best eaten the day they are made.

*Silicone sheets are good for more than just cookies. When you use them to line the pans underneath cakes, pies, custards or other baked goods they provide an even layer of heat underneath whatever you’re baking to help facilitate consistent cooking and help ensure great results.

Michael Natkin of Herbivoracious is coming out with a book on May 8. He was gracious enough to send us a galley copy and we have to say that we were both impressed. What struck me immediately as I flipped through the pages was that if I didn't know it was a vegetarian cookbook I wouldn't notice that at first glance. It's so full of interesting and accessible recipes that it wouldn't occur to you that anything was missing. Of course as soon as you begin reading the introduction Michael introduces you to his personal thoughts on food and why he chooses to cook and eat the way he does.

Herbivoracous is full of interesting information and cooking tips. The recipes span the world and still manage to be easily approachable and relatively simple to prepare. A few that jumped out at us are the Roasted Maitake Mushrooms in Smoked Tea Broth, the Persimmon, Parsley and Olive Salad and the Spicy Tamarind Glazed Potatoes. They are clearly written with background information on unusual ingredients and straightforward directions. There is an emphasis on bright flavors that makes you want to try his dishes. It's a fun book that will teach you some new tricks and get you excited about getting into the kitchen. Michael has a passion for food that he brings to life within its pages and that is what great cookbooks are all about.

PS: If you can't wait till May 8 to check out the book, visit his website Herbivoracious. There are previews of some of the recipes with videos for you to get a taste.

It was simple. We took Greek yogurt and spicy mixed pitted olives from Whole Foodsand let them spin in our food processor. The result was a rich, tangy, spicy condiment which did its part with lamb over the weekend and has a whole lifetime of opportunities in front of it.

We've decided to try an experiment. A casual dinner, centered around pasta, at least 4 courses, $50 per person, BYOB (we'll provide the glassware and the H2O). It's not a catered event, it's a communal one. We love to make pasta and our pasta machine makes much too much for us to eat on our own. So why not open up the table? There are 10 seats and some nights we may occupy a few of them ourselves. Payment will be required in advance, via PayPal, to secure your seat. Doors open at 6pm, dinner is at 7pm, there will be nibbles and prep as we get ready for supper. You are welcome to roll up your sleeves or sit back and relax as the mood strikes you. Attendees to the first night will get 24-hour advance notice for the next shindig before we open it up to the public at large. Your seat will be yours for as long as you continue to reserve it. These meals will be about good food and good company. First dinner this Friday, April 13, as it happens. Reservations will be taken on a first come, first serve basis and the house is in Levittown, PA reachable via Septa's West Trenton line from Philly. Email us through Ideas in Food and we'll let you know if there's a seat at the table.

Strawberry pie is a symbol of Spring, of Easter, of family of sunny days and sweet whipped cream. Before I knew about or thought about seasonality there was delicious juicy strawberry pie. Sometimes memories are more important and powerful than rules, guidelines and popular views. Occasionally we must follow our gut.

We start with radishes and chicken livers. The radish greens are trimmed and quickly sauteed with shallots and garlic. Then we chop them and fold them into soft butter. We marinate the livers and the radishes separately for 24 hours. We then thread them both onto skewers and grill them together. The grilled livers and radishes rest in a pan while we grill some bread. The we spread the radish top butter on the warm toast and serve it alongside the grilled livers and radishes. A sprinkling of fleur de sel, a couple of grinds of black pepper and a few drops of maple vinegar finish things off to make a delicious snack for the cocktail hour.

We continue to make a variety of cultured dairy products and are now swimming in whey. In a way to feature highlight the delicious whey we adapted our no-knead pizza dough recipe to a whey bread. We ended up using 825 grams of whey instead of the 675 grams od water we used in the original dough. To add a little more lactic love to the bread we stuffed a 10 gram knob of butter inside the rolls. Since this was a no-knead recipe we used a mold to help shape the finished product. Our current go to mold is a muffin/cup cake pan which we put 80 gram pieces of dough. The finished rolls were rich with the flavor of butter and a great vehicle to share the flavor of whey.

This morning when Alex ordered coffee he receive this very cool bottle of cold brewed Stumptown coffee.They call them cold brew Stubbies and they are potent and delicious. It was served with a glass of ice and a small pitcher of milk. We think that half and half would have been better, adding a creamy richness to help balance the the intense flavor and bitter edge of the coffee. In spite of that it was one of the best cups of commercial iced coffee we've ever had. It's inspired us to to get ready for summer and start cold brewingour favorite coffee again at home.

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